Kan. AG obtains order against paving company

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (Legal Newsline) - Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced on Thursday that his office obtained an order against a paving company and its owners that will ban them from doing business in Kansas.

Mike Gaede and Carl Bailey, doing business as Bailey's Construction and CTC Construction, allegedly committed five violations of the Kansas Consumer Protection Act when selling their services to a Leavenworth County consumer. In March 2012, the defendants solicited the consumer to perform asphalt paving services and charged $1,750 for the job. When the consumer requested the defendants write the check out for him, they allegedly wrote the check for $17,500.

The defendants also allegedly presented the consumer with an invoice with no business address or notice of the consumer's right to cancel, failed to inform the consumer verbally of his three-day right to cancel and cashed the check before waiting the required five business days.

"Consumers should be especially cautious when dealing with door-to-door solicitors," Schmidt said. "Scam artists promise a deal that sounds too good to be true, and it usually is. Consumers who are in need of home repairs or driveway paving should seek out local, reputable companies and get multiple written estimates before having any work done."

Leavenworth County District Court Judge David King ordered Bailey and Gaede to repay the consumer $17,500 and pay a $100,000 civil penalty. The defendants were barred from engaging in future business activity in the state of Kansas.